Last night, Detroit Pistons, without their leader Cade Cunningham, destroyed the stacked Philadelphia 76ers with a blowout loss. Well, that wasn’t the only storyline from the Friday night disaster. There was a lot happening within the Philly franchise. President Daryl Morey laid out the road for the team’s future, eagerly waiting to transform the roster. In the meantime, Joel Embiid and Kelly Oubre Jr. went off with an ugly courtside altercation.

A lot of knots tied, right? Let me untie it one by one. Firstly, let’s look at the ugly exchange. Everything started with the Pistons’ dominant first half, outscoring the Phillies with a 78-49 run. Speaking of it, Coach Nick Nurse said, “We didn’t come out with any speed or juice or energy at the start. There were just not one step but three steps faster than us in everything… Just outworked us.” Especially, Nurse was upset with the number of fastbreak points that they conceded. A stinging total of 23 points.

One such fastbreak triggered an ugly fight too! In the late end of the third quarter, tired Kelly Oubre Jr. and Joel Embiid failed to chase down Malik Beasley’s fastbreak layup and the team called a timeout. In the timeout, the big man expressed his disappointment with Oubre’s efforts and it resulted in a heated exchange. While everyone thought the situation would go out of hand, they duo hugged it out before the whistle.

Speaking of the moment, Nick Nurse said, “I think it had something to do with obviously getting back in transition… Were playing well, fighting back our way into the game and we’d taken away most of those transition play There was an exchange and it happens once in a while but like you said they were on the same page.” While it was a big relief on the court, they have something to worry about off the court.

What does Daryl Morey’s latest statement mean for Joel Embid & Co.?

“We feel like that team has a real shot… we’re just focused on championship, and I know you have to squint a little, but we feel like this group can still do that,” said Daryl Morey last night. It may sound a bit odd but it doesn’t seem like it after analysing the team’s trade deadline moves. The team traded out Caleb Martin, KJ Martin, Reggie Jackson, and Pete Nance only as a stepping stone to head toward a younger roster.

“One of the general themes we wanted to add at this deadline was to get younger, get more dynamic,” said Morey, clearly stating that he wants to weed out older players. Currently, the team has four players in their high thirties Paul George, Andre Drummond, Kyle Lowry, and Eric Gordon. So, we might see the team waive or trade them one after the other.

This also leaves us with an important question, will the team still stick with Joel Embiid when Luka Doncic’s trade proved that no big talent is safe in the NBA world? Unfortunately, Morey promised to build the new team around Embiid and continue to trust him. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.